The Wellness Issue

35 Ways to Feel Better Right Now Also in this issue: why Portland chefs are embracing sobriety, stolen Legos, top complementary medicine providers, and schools 2019.

In this issue:

Arts & Culture

The Essentials

13 Things to See and Do in Portland: February 2019

The PDX Jazz Fest sweeps the city, Beijing Dance Theater makes its Portland debut, Shane Torres returns to Helium, and Jennifer Egan hits the Schnitz.

01/29/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson and Fiona McCann

Music

Y La Bamba's New Album Is a Defiant, Bombastic Triumph

And it's been more than a decade in the making.

01/29/2019 By Dez Ramirez

Performance

A New Portland Performance Transforms Trauma Into Art

Anya Pearson's Made to Dance in Burning Buildings is a vivid choreopoem about rape, PTSD, and perseverance.

01/29/2019 By Fiona McCann

Pop-Up Music

This Guy Will Write You Your Own Custom Theme Song

Tiny Anthems is all about mythologizing you.

01/29/2019 By Sydney Dauphinais

Culture

In Portland, Drag Brunches Are a Thing

An order of bacon and legs, please.

01/29/2019 By Allison Place

Eat & Drink

Eat Here Now

With Giraffe, the Biwa Folks Take On the Japanese Grocery

Located inside Cargo, it's one of the central city's few places to find Japanese groceries, snacks, and baked treats.

01/29/2019 By Kelly Clarke

Word of Mouth

Gado Gado’s Noodle-Centric Pop-Up Is Going Places

Southeast Asian influences and a healthy dose of “what the hell, we’re having fun” make it one to watch.

01/29/2019 By Karen Brooks

Recipes

This Potpie Recipe from Urdaneta Is a Potent Love Potion

Consume at your own risk.

01/29/2019 By Benjamin Tepler

Eat & Drink

Kitchen Consequential

Drugs and booze nearly gutted a generation of Portland's best chefs. Now they're setting the table for sober kitchen culture.

01/29/2019 By Karen Brooks Illustrations by Molly Mendoza

Editor's Note

A Tarot Skeptic Gets Her Cards Read

And finds some inspiration in divination.

01/29/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson

Health & Wellness

Wellness

Want to Feel Better?

Portland’s party-starting dance teachers, massage therapists, modern-day witches, labyrinth walkers, and psychedelic guides have ideas. It’s a wild world of wellness out there.

01/29/2019 Edited by Rebecca Jacobson Photography by Nicolle Clemetson

Wellness

Portland's Top Complementary Medicine Providers 2019

Seeking the city's best acupuncturists, naturopaths, and more? Here is your peer-sourced list.

01/29/2019 By Ramona DeNies

Wellness: Couldn't Hurt

Bargain Massages, Therapy Bunnies, and 9 More Ways to Feel Better

Portland serves up a dizzying buffet of options for improving your mind, body, and soul—or at least an hour or two of your day.

01/29/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson, Casey Jarman, Amy Martin, Fiona McCann, Marty Patail, and Benjamin Tepler

Wellness: Body Talk

One Editor's Elaborate Wellness Routine, Explained

Here's what it takes to be Portland Monthly style editor Eden Dawn.

01/29/2019 By Eden Dawn

Wellness: Bust a Move

Cully's Nonprofit Workout Studio Puts Community First

(com)motion brings Portland together with dance parties, karate classes, and body-positive yoga.

01/29/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson

Wellness: Head Trip

Are Psychedelics the Breakthrough Therapy Drug?

LSD, MDMA, and psilocybin are the newest tools in the therapist’s kit—and Portland has embraced the movement.

01/29/2019 By Seth Lorinczi

Home & Real Estate

Welcome to the Jungalow

These Lush Houseplants Are Your New, Low-Maintenance BFFs

Solabee sells the cheapest therapy in town: plants.

01/29/2019 By Kelly Clarke

News & City Life

Wellness: Charm School

5 Schools Invite Portlanders to Embrace Their Witchy Side

Learn astrology, herbalism, tarot, and more at these local classes.

01/29/2019 By Tuck Woodstock

Wellness: Spell It Out

How Witchcraft Helps Portlander Rhea Wolf Make Sense of the World

Sabrina to Suspiria, witches are having a serious cultural moment right now. But for Wolf, it dates back to her childhood in the Midwest.

01/29/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson

Wellness: Get Smart

Welcome to Portland's Brainiest Bar Trivia Nights

Added bonus? They all benefit local nonprofits.

01/29/2019 By Rachel Saslow

The Shakedown

What's Up with Valentine's Day, Anyway?

Let's size up this romance business.

01/29/2019 By Marty Patail

Education

Portland Private Schools, by the Numbers: 2019

Local private schools enroll thousands of area kids in programs ranging from language immersion to faith-based.

01/29/2019 Edited by Ramona DeNies

How to Help

Want to Help Out Kids in Portland Public Schools?

Pay taxes? Check. Want to do even more for schoolkids? Here are some ways to give a little extra.

01/29/2019 By Margaret Seiler

Education

Meet the Longest-Serving Principal in Portland

With Rosa Parks Elementary, Tamala Newsome helped shape a neighborhood.

01/29/2019 By Margaret Seiler

Block Buster

How One $50,000 Bust Revealed an Underworld of Portland Lego Crime

We investigate the teeny black market, brick by brick.

01/29/2019 By Marty Patail

Long Story Short

Carlos the Rollerblader Is Portland’s Advice Hotline on Wheels

The local emcee and community organizer gets serious about identity and the city’s support of people of color.

01/29/2019 By Tuck Woodstock

Millennials

These Miniature Skeletons Lead Instagram-Perfect Lives

They're literally dead.

01/29/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson

Politics

In This Oregon Congressional District, Every Representative Gets Divorced

Call it the Curse of the Fifth.

01/29/2019 By Ramona DeNies

Politics

Here's What Oregon’s Brand-New Democratic Supermajority Hopes to Accomplish

It's a donkey stampede in Salem.

01/29/2019 By Emma Mannheimer

Style & Shopping

Wellness: In the Cards

These 6 Tarot Decks Take Divination to the Next Level

Looking for some insight into life's daily snags? Pick up one of these locally designed tarot decks.

01/29/2019 By Allison Place

Style

Meet Dayna Pinkham, Portland's World-Class Hatmaker

In her downtown shop, the master milliner crafts hats for stars—and for everyday Portlanders, too.

01/29/2019 By Eden Dawn

Travel & Outdoors

Travel

Reno Is Base Camp for Cheap Buffets, Blackjack, and Burning Man

The gritty glitz of a Nevada outlier is suddenly hip.

01/29/2019 By Arlo Voorhees

Wildlife

Does Oregon Have a Cougar Problem?

A hiker’s death on Mount Hood could have implications for public safety and Oregon’s wildlife policies.

01/29/2019 By Ciara O'Rourke